BILL NUMBER: AB 63	CHAPTERED  10/10/99

	CHAPTER   765
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   OCTOBER 10, 1999
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   OCTOBER 7, 1999
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   SEPTEMBER 3, 1999
	PASSED THE SENATE   SEPTEMBER 2, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JUNE 22, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MARCH 3, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Ducheny, Battin, and Zettel

                        DECEMBER 7, 1998

   An act to add Part 3 (commencing with Section 475) to Division 1
of the Health and Safety Code, relating to public health.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 63, Ducheny.  Office of Binational Border Health.
   Under existing law, the State Department of Health Services
generally regulates issues of public health.  Under existing federal
law, the United States-Mexico Border Health Commission exists to
address specified issues relating to border health.
   This bill would create the state Office of Binational Border
Health, to facilitate cooperation between California and Mexican
health officials and health professionals to reduce the risk of
disease in the California border region.  The bill would require the
office to convene a voluntary community advisory group of
representatives of border community-based stakeholders to develop a
strategic plan, and would require the office to report its resulting
recommendations to the California members of the federal commission,
and to prepare an annual border health status report for submission
to the Director of Health Services, the Legislature, and the
Governor.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Tuberculosis (TB) disease rates in southern California
counties, including Los Angeles, San Diego, and Imperial, are higher
than the rest of the state and the nation.  Mexican-born patients
comprise approximately 30 percent of southern California's reported
TB cases, and rates of drug-resistant TB strains have been documented
by the United States Public Health Services in a study of border
counties to be almost seven times higher among foreign-born Hispanic
patients than among United States-born non-Hispanic patients.
   (b) Rates of hepatitis A and gastrointestinal illnesses such as
shigella are higher in southern California than in the rest of the
state and the nation, with the highest rates seen in Hispanics.
   (c) Communicable disease tracking by public health authorities is
often severely hampered by the movement of infectious cases across
the border.
   (d) Imperial County does not meet California Environmental
Protection Agency standards for ambient ozone levels, at least in
part due to increasing traffic at the Calexico-Mexicali border, and
Imperial County childhood asthma hospitalization rates have increased
annually since 1989.
   (e) The New River in Imperial County is the most polluted in the
nation, containing more than 100 chemicals and receiving 76 million
liters of raw sewage each day.
   (f) Recent outbreaks of mercury poisoning related to a beauty
cream, and hepatitis A related to contaminated strawberries,
underscore the need for better notification systems between United
States and Mexican health authorities regarding contaminated
commercial products and related investigations.
  SEC. 2.  Part 3 (commencing with Section 475) is added to Division
1 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:

      PART 3.  OFFICE OF BINATIONAL BORDER HEALTH

   475.  (a) (1) The State Department of Health Services shall
establish a permanent Office of Binational Border Health to
facilitate cooperation between health officials and health
professionals in California and Mexico, to reduce the risk of disease
in the California border region, and in those areas directly
affected by border health conditions.
   (2) The department shall administer the office, and shall seek
available public or private funding, or both, to support the
activities of the office.
   (b) The Office of Binational Border Health shall convene a
voluntary community advisory group of representatives of border
community-based stakeholders to develop a strategic plan with
short-term, intermediate, and long-range goals and implementation
actions.  The advisory group shall include no more than 12 California
representatives.  The advisory group shall include, but not be
limited to, members from local government, hospitals, health plans,
community-based organizations, universities, Los Angeles, San Diego,
and Imperial County health departments, and a representative from an
association of local health officers specializing in border health
issues.  The office shall invite and request appropriate
participation from representatives of the Baja California health
department and other Mexican health departments affected by border
health issues.  Recommendations resulting from the strategic plan
shall be developed and shared in consultation with the California
appointees to the United States-Mexico Border Health Commission
established pursuant to Section 290n of Title 22 of the United States
Code, including the Director of Health Services.  The office shall
prepare an annual border health status report, and shall submit it to
the Director of Health Services, the Legislature, and the Governor.
